Singletary hopes Urlacher finishes career with Bears

MANKATO, Minn. — Count former Bears middle linebacker Mike Singletary among those who is hoping that current Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher finishes his career with the Bears.

“When you are a guy who is a mainstay of a defense, and has been a great player for awhile and is synonymous with a team like Urlacher is, by all means you hope the organization and Urlacher’s agent work that out the way Baltimore has been able to do with Ray Lewis,” Singletary said.

Singletary, who now is the Vikings linebackers coach and assistant head coach, was able to play his entire career with the Bears, wrapping it up in 1992 after 12 seasons. Singletary retired when he was 34 — which is Urlacher’s age.

“I didn’t have sense enough to look elsewhere,” he said. “I was going to finish with the Bears regardless, and they knew that.”

When Singletary began to lose something and the Bears started going young, he decided to retire rather than push the issue.

Asked if Urlacher has lost something, Singletary said, “Everybody loses something as they begin to get older. I’d be lying to say otherwise, it would be defying nature. You are going to lose something, but what you lose in the physical side you gain in the experience side.”

Singletary still holds Urlacher in very high regard. “He is a good football player,” he said. “He is the guy who has perfected has craft as a Tampa 2 linebacker. He’s really smart, really bright and he knows where he needs to be. He gets the defense lined up. He is a very valuable guy.”